33.3 stiffnecked... A few translations on the dynamic extreme replace this word with stubborn (which is fine), but I just like the visual imagery of this word.
It is also engages my thinking that God did not want to get to close because he would be provoked to destroy them. Is this the basis for a principle of interpersonal relations. A little distance can be a healthy thing for some people. I'm just wondering.
33.11 as a man speaks to his friend...
33.18-19 I will make all My goodness pass before you... This is an interesting and instructive response to Moses' request to see God's glory. Do I demonstrate His glory?
33.22 the cleft of the rock... http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/e/h/hehideth.htm
34.4 How did he cut those stones so quickly? I wouldn't have a clue where to start.
34.9 What a great prayer!
34.14 the LORD whose name is jealous... That doesn't seem to make it to many attribute lists. (De. 4.24)
TWOT- This verb expresses a very strong emotion whereby some quality or possession of the object is desired by the subject. This root occurs eighty-seven times. There is a questionable occurrence(s) of the root in Ugaritic (UT 19: no. 2246). The verb is (perhaps) a denominative of qinʾâ (BDB).
The term may be used in a purely descriptive sense to denote one of the characteristics of living men (Eccl 9:6), or in a derogatory sense to denote hostile and disruptive passions (Prov 27:4) or in a favorable sense to denote consuming zeal focused on one that is loved (Ps 69:9 [H 10]).
It may prove helpful to think of “zeal” as the original sense from which derived the notions “zeal for another’s property” =“envy” and “zeal for one’s own property” = “jealousy.”
Accordingly, our root is often translated “envy.” It expresses the feeling which barren Rachel had toward prolific Leah (Gen 30:1). Joseph’s brothers were similarly related to him after his fateful dream (Gen 37:11). Edom’s deep jealousy of Israel’s favor before God accompanied anger and hatred (Ezk 35:11). So, this root does not express superficial emotion. God says the righteous are not to long deeply after the apparent (but short-lived) prosperity of the wicked (Ps 37:1). A consideration of their ultimate end led the psalmist to cease his envy (Ps 73:3).
The central meaning of our word, however, relates to “jealousy” especially in the marriage relationship. Adultery was punishable by death (Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22). By marriage the “two become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). Hence, adultery was a severing of the body—a form of murder. Because woman usurped man’s position in Eden the law was constructed to emphasize her subjection and man’s leadership (Gen 3:16). Hence, provision was made for a husband to accuse and discover suspected adultery (Num 5). Nor should it be overlooked that this was also a means whereby an accused but innocent woman could escape the accusation and wrath of a jealous husband inasmuch as God himself would pronounce her guiltless. The law provides a fit end for justified jealousy, the death of the offender (IDB, III, p. 332).
God is depicted as Israel’s husband; he is a jealous God (Ex 20:5). Idolatry is spiritual adultery and merits death. Phinehas played the faithful lover by killing a man and his foreign wife, and thus stayed the wrath of divine jealousy (Num 25:11). Joshua repeated the fact that God is a jealous God who would not tolerate idolatry and the people voluntarily placed themselves under God’s suzerainty (Josh 24:19). Through idolatry Israel incited God to justified wrath, e.g. in the days of Ahab, and God punished them. Ultimately, repeated warnings went unheeded and God gave his people the justice due their spiritual adultery (Ezk 5:13; 8:3, 5; 16:38). The Psalmist identified the jealousy of God as the cause of the exile and he besought his Sovereign to quench his wrath against Israel (Ps 79:5). According to promise God rested his jealous wrath against Israel (Ezk 16:42; cf. Deut 30) and turned against those who had misused them (Ezk 36:5–6). So strong is his disposition to vindicate his name (Ezk 39:25) and his people, that all the earth felt his wrath (Zeph 3:8). Thus it will be seen that the action informed by this intensity may result in ill and perdition and is associated with words denoting wrath (Num 25:11; Ezk 16:38, 42; 36:6; 38:9) and anger (Deut 29:19 [H 20]), and as a consuming force with fire (Zeph 1:18; 3:8).
On the other hand the divine action accomplished with “jealousy” may result in good and salvation. Thus this arduous love effected the return (Isa 42:13). The restoration of Israel does not, however, exhaust God’s gracious activities in behalf of his people. He will effect their salvation (the restitution of a perfect relationship between himself and his creatures), which they lost in father Adam, by a second Adam—Immanuel (Isa 9:7 [H 6]). Furthermore, the return from the exile foreshadowed an even greater event—God’s creating and choosing a perfect bride through his Servant (Isa 42:13). God’s jealousy when offended issued in just retribution, but when stirred by his grace it resulted in eternal love. Hence, the church is called the bride of Christ. It is now being perfectly prepared and preserved for the wedding.
God expects man to return his love. Love, however, is not simply an emotion. It is a structured relationship. To love God is to obey him. So the word is used to denote a passionate, consuming “zeal” focused on God that results in the doing of his will and the maintaining of his honor in the face of the ungodly acts of men and nations. Phinehas, Elijah and Jehu are particular examples of this zeal (TWNT, II, p. 878). Saul (II Sam 21:2) and Jehu (II Kgs 10:16) were prompted by their ardent zeal (jealousy) for God to commit acts violating his commands. Thus, they stirred the wrath of God who is jealous for his name (Ezk 39:25)—that it be vindicated by the keeping of the whole law (Deut 29:20 [H 19]). The godly (esp. Messiah) are consumed, therefore, by an ardour (jealousy) to exalt God by maintaining purity of worship (Ps 69:9 [H 10]), and purity of obedience respecting the whole of God’s word (Ps 119:139).
קַנָּא (qannāʾ). Jealous. This noun, modelled after the Piel infinitive, is used solely of God and in the context of idolatry. It shows the parallel between adultery and idolatry. As a husband holds his wife to himself and is permitted to kill her and her paramour in the case of adultery, so God relates to his people. It occurs only in the Pentateuch (five times).[1]
UT C.H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook, 1965 (Grammar cited by chapter and section; texts cited by chap (16) and no. of line. Glossary cited by chap (19) and no. of word)
BDB Brown, Driver, Briggs, A Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1905
IDB Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. G. Buttrick, 1962
[1] Coppes, L. J. (1999). 2038 קָנָא. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (802–803). Chicago: Moody Press.
34.20 none shall appear before me empty-handed...
34.21 in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest... a verse for the workaholics.
35.2 rest to the LORD... Not just rest, but rest to the LORD.
35.21 whose heart was stirred... This may explain the anemic giving some pastors bemoan.
